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Monday, November 22, 2010

I bought my first truffle. It smelled fanastic and wasn´t even as expensive as I thought.
Maybe because I didn´t get a summer truffle.
Ten grams of that would have been 43 € whereas mine was only 5,98 € for ten grams.
I guess that's a bit of a difference.
I grated it into thin slices and served it on top of filet and pasta.
But I have to say I wasn't really impressed.
I don't know what I did wrong but I could hardly taste any truffle.
My white truffle butter was far better! And less expensive...
I know using truffle oil is one of the major sins, because they always use
artificial flavors to create/imitate the typical truffle aroma.
Nevertheless: I LOVE TRUFFLE OIL.
It tastes like truffle and that's what's most important to me...

Sunday, November 21, 2010

A while ago we bought these fantastic entrecote at KaDeWe, a department store in West Berlin.
Like Harrod's in London they have one incredible but pretty pricey floor with just FOOD!
The steaks were supposed to cost 80 Euros a kilo. But they were on sale for half-price.
You can definitely find good entrecote or rib-eye steaks for much cheaper, but make sure that they dry-aged for at least 2-3 weeks. The meat loses water and shrinks which makes it far more tender and concentrates the flavor.

After letting the steaks sit outside at room temperature for about 1-2 hours we slightly oiled them with vegetable oil using a brush (it only requires a little tiny bit). Then peppered them (NO SALT!) and seared them from one side for one and a half minute in our iron cast pan. Make sure the pan is really, really hot. Keep it on the fired stove for about 2 or 3 minutes before putting the steaks in.
Then turn the steaks, put some white truffle butter (yum) on top and put the pan together with the steaks in a pre-heated oven. The oven needs to be really hot (+250°C). The hotter the better!
Leave the steaks in for about 4-6 minutes (depending on the thickness and oven temperature) if you like them medium rare. For medium just cook them approx. two minutes longer. Check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer, and take the steaks out when they reach 5° lower than the desired doneness. You can find a temperature guide here.
Wrap the steaks in aluminium foil and let them rest for about ten minutes. They will continue to cook, and the juices will re-distribute.
If you like you can make a sauce from the drippings in the pan. We tried a mix of brandy, maple syrup, red wine and more truffle butter. Let it boil so that the alcohol diffuses and the sauce reduces a little bit.
Finally add some salt to the entrecote.
Serve it with some bread or a nice salad.

Sadly they had to move out of their original venue which was even more cosy and romantic.

Their new location is a little less intimate and on our last visit we discovered that the tables in the front are cramped.
But sitting in the back of the restaurant can be quite loud and busy with waiters rushing past.

Still it is one of my favorite restaurants.

The food is excellent and the service is very friendly and knowledgeable.

PS: The name of the restaurant means 'The Farmer Underneath The Starry Sky'.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

So I decided to start my blog with this delicious chocolate soufflé.I never tried it before and it turned out pretty well...well, except for the part inside that was supposed to be liquid. But my oven got a bit too hot. Still it was all moist and fluffy and at least a little bit liquid on the inside.

Grease and coat soufflé baking dishes with butter and sugar.Melt chocolate together with butter and margarine in a double boiler.Whisk melted chocolate with flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, and cinnamon until smooth.Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites.Add the egg yolks to the chocolate batter and whisk again until smooth.Beat egg whites with pinch of salt and and squeeze of lemon.Carefully fold egg whites into batter.

Fill the baking dishes with the batter. Bake them for 15-20 minutes at 170°C.Be careful not to open the oven door while baking.Carefully remove Soufflé from baking dish and serve immediately.